Q. What did Dabes tell you?
JAXSON DART: He just said how was the first media.
Q. How often was he keeping in touch with you throughout the process? I know he was texting you often I heard.
JAXSON DART: Yeah, so Coach would text me a lot, and I would say like two weeks ago he kind of died off, so I didn't know what to expect. But no, I felt like -- I don't know, I just had a good feeling about this. I just felt like this was going to work.
Q. Did you hit it off with him right away?
JAXSON DART: Yeah. Coach Dabes, it was a super easy connection I felt like, from just a personality standpoint. I felt like his competitive edge just really fits kind of how I approach everything.
I felt like it started off easy and then we continued to grow from there. Obviously over this much time, we've just grown a stronger connection.
This is a coach that I want to be coached by, no doubt.
Q. I guess he had a lot to do with Josh Allen's success. Did you see that from afar and does that encourage you more?
JAXSON DART: Oh, 100 percent, 100 percent. Obviously going into this process and then at the same time watching Josh's success from afar, I got to see that just as a football fan. I think anytime you see success like that and just as a competitor, as a quarterback, you really appreciate that from a coach. You definitely want to be coached by somebody just like that.
Q. What was this evening like for you, waiting and waiting and waiting and not knowing?
JAXSON DART: Yeah, I was just trying to keep my mind occupied. I was able to have a lot of family in town and friends, so I was really just walking around saying hi to everybody, just telling them how thankful I was that they were able to come and support, which was one of the huge reasons I decided to do it in Utah, because I felt like this was bigger than me.
I was just grateful for the people that I was surrounded by during this time, and I couldn't ask for better people in my corner.
But yeah, at times the night went a little slower than I kind of thought. But couldn't be more happy to be in this position that I'm in.
Q. At the combine we talked a little bit about what it would be like to sit behind a veteran. That could be the situation here, obviously. I don't know what they've told you about that. How prepared are you for that? That's something new for you, right?
JAXSON DART: Yeah, it's definitely new, but for me, this is just where my journey starts. I'm stepping into an amazing room with a Super Bowl winning quarterback who can see it from a different lens at such an elite level. I can't wait to go learn from him, go learn from all the other guys in Tommy and Jameis in the room and then just the team as a whole. I feel like it's just a bunch of great competitors who really see it the same way, and I can't wait to go out there and compete and do all that I can to make the team better.
Q. Jaxson, I don't know how much you've studied the Giants' offense, but what do you know of it and what do you like about it?
JAXSON DART: I just like how versatile it is. It's a well-balanced offense who can attack every blade of grass at every level, and Coach Daboll does an amazing job of putting his players in the best situation to succeed, and I think that's all you can ask for from a quarterback and from an offense as a whole.
At the same time, we have some young pieces who I think that we can continue to grow off of and then some vets who have done it at the highest levels and won some of the biggest games.
I can't wait to be a part of that and really just learn and absorb as much as I can.
Q. At the Senior Bowl you told us that you're obviously very close to the Manning family. How does it feel now that you're going to be following in Eli's footsteps here in New York?
JAXSON DART: It's wild. It's wild to think about. They were just such an amazing asset for me when I was at Ole Miss. Obviously going down to the Manning Passing Academy and spending more time with them there, and then Archie just being consistent with texting me, and he made sure to give me a good luck today, and then Eli, I couldn't ask for a better resource than that. In my eyes he's going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer here shortly. I'm going to continue to lean on them a little bit, and I couldn't be more blessed to have them in my corner.
Q. Did they reach out to you tonight, and what was their message to you?
JAXSON DART: Well, I saw that they reached out before and they were just wishing me good luck. Quite honestly I haven't really been able to check my phone that much. I've just been celebrating with my family.
Q. You obviously had Trey as your top target and he happened to be teammates in high school with who I imagine is eventually going to be your top target here. Have you gotten a scouting report on Malik yet?
JAXSON DART: Yeah, Trey raved about having Malik. Trey was, like you said, his quarterback in high school, and he raved about that through all of our years at Ole Miss together. It's also been cool because having Trey as one of my best friends, he's brought me close to Malik, as well.
I remember talking to him when I was on my visit and continued to keep him in the loop of things. Yeah, he's going to be here shortly the best receiver in the NFL. Grateful to have him and be able to play with him.
Q. What was it like to get that call and to learn you were going to be a Giant?
JAXSON DART: I mean, it was unreal. It was emotional for sure. You can anticipate, you can expect and try to make predictions about how you're going to feel in that moment, but there's nothing that you can do to really prepare yourself for that phone call.
I was overcome with emotion a little bit, but I was just super excited. Like I've said to a lot of people, this is the place that I wanted to be. Just really grateful for this.
Q. The Giants made their pick at 3 and then obviously weren't going to pick again until tomorrow night. Did you have any sense or indication that this could happen, that they could trade back up to get you like this?
JAXSON DART: I think you can see things play out and you can have a little bit of expectations, but at the end you never know what's going to happen. I was just kind of trying to live in the moment. I was able to see my boy Walter Nolan get picked and I was so excited for him, and yeah, I was just trying to enjoy the time with my family because this only happens once. I was just trying to stay in the moment right here.
Q. How do you embrace the expectation as the new, the next franchise quarterback of the Giants in a market like New York?
JAXSON DART: Yeah, as a competitor, you want to play on the biggest stages. You want to play in front of the most passionate fans, most world renowned program and organization. That's just kind of what I wanted to be a part of.
I felt like my process of getting to this moment, I just feel like I'm built for it. I'm really excited to go after it with everything that I've got.
Q. Does your personality fit in this city do you think?
JAXSON DART: No doubt. (Laughter.)
Q. Why is that? Why do you think that?
JAXSON DART: I don't know, I just feel like I got an edge to me. I feel like everybody in the city does, as well. So let's get to it.
Q. You had mentioned that Daboll was peppering you with texts for a while and then it kind of went quiet, and I don't know if you saw the reports that they were going to work out other quarterbacks. I'm curious if you were aware of that, and did you start doubting at all where you thought you stood, and how did that process play out for you?
JAXSON DART: It's almost kind of like the early stages of dating, I would say. You go on dates with different people and that's what Coach Daboll was doing, and I felt confident in the relationship that we had, so I saw all of it. But at the same time I just felt confident in the preparation that I had for my meetings with them, how I did at the combine, how I did -- really just my tape throughout my career, and then all the meetings that we had. I felt like I gave it all that I got.
I just felt like that spoke for itself, as well as our relationship.
DraftScripts by ASAP Sports
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports